Kids will love shooting pom poms out of these homemade popsicle stick catapults. After assembling the catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons, they’re ready to launch pom poms or other lightweight objects. To teach kids about simple machines, you can ask them about how they think the catapults work, what they should do to make the pom poms go a farther/shorter distance, and how the catapult could be made more powerful.
The good news is that your white lab coat doesn’t have to sit in the closet collecting dust. There are a lot of fun, simple, and hands-on science projects families can do together to learn and understand some of the basic principals of the natural world. And they’re not just for kids: even moms and dads will get a kick out of these 10 family-friendly science experiments! A nature journal is a great way to encourage kids to be creative and really pay attention to what’s going on around them. All you need is a blank journal (you can buy one or make your own) along with something to write with. Then just go outside and encourage your children to write or draw what they notice. This could include descriptions of animals they see, tracings of leaves, a drawing of a beautiful flower, etc. Encourage your kids to ask questions about what they observe (Why do birds need to build nests? Why is this flower so brightly colored?) and explain to them that scientists collect research by doing exactly what they’re doing now. Put the pencil across the top of a jar so that the string hangs down the middle of the jar. If it hangs down too far, roll the string around the pencil until the string is not touching the sides or bottom of the jar. The string will act as a seed for the crystal. Any type of jar will do, but canning jars are best since they can endure the hot temperatures. Tall skinny olive jars are also nice because they don’t use up so much of the liquid.

Insert a little plant science into the mix by re-growing food from scraps. Think onions, potatoes, and lettuces for this one (psst… green onions are a super easy, fast option). Get the low down on all that recycled goodness at Mrs. Happy Homemaker. Since plants need water and sunlight to grow, exposing scrap roots to that winning combo helps them recharge.

Red cabbage powder (0.25oz/7g), citric acid (2oz/59ml), baking soda (2oz/59ml), 3 color tablets, cross-linked polyacrylamide co-polymer (0.5oz/14g), vegetable oil (2oz/59ml), corn starch (2oz/59ml), paper, 2 cotton swabs, 3 test tubes with caps, test tube stand, 3 plastic cups, pipette, stir 2 sticks, small and medium plastic measuring scoops and activity guide. Scientific Explorer's Mind Blowing Science Kit includes almost everything you need to set up exciting, colorful experiments with your young scientist. Included in this dynamic kit are the following components: red cabbage juice powder, citric acid, color tablets, polyacrylamide crystals, a pipette, small and medium scoops, and three plastic cups. Only basic supplies are required but not included, such as water, towels, a plate or tray to catch spills, and a stirring spoon. Although none of the experiments included in this kit are especially messy, each one should be done on a flat surface that can be easily wiped clean in case of spills. Geode Kits – For any child who thinks rocks are boring – a kit where they can break open their own geode is a great way to change their mind. National Geographic is a great choice if this is the type of kit you are looking for. Their products include hand-picked geodes and come with safety goggles and a stand for your child to proudly display their treasures. A great choice for children aged around 6 years old and above, they’re sure to be more interested in Earth science after this experiment. This celery science experiment is another classic science experiment that parents and teachers like because it’s easy to do and gives kids a great visual understanding of how transpiration works and how plants get water and nutrients. Just place celery stalks in cups of colored water, wait at least a day, and you’ll see the celery leaves take on the color of the water. This happens because celery stalks (like other plants) contain small capillaries that they use to transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Every child has different tastes and interests, but the products shown here were consistently popular with kids of all ages. We researched and reviewed over a hundred science kits and kids science experiments (and yes, had way too much fun doing it) and selected the very best ones. So no matter what kind of science lab kit for kids you're looking for - we've got you covered! It’s natural to have a lot of questions about the world. As you wonder about these things and ask questions, you are learning. Curiosity about science helps you become an explorer finding out how things work and why things happen. Anyone can be a scientist, performing experiments to ask questions and get answers. You can even be a scientist at home, working on experiments with ingredients you probably have in your kitchen or laundry room. Always get a parent’s permission before you conduct experiments. Working as a team with an adult is best for safety.

Like the popular baking soda and vinegar experiments, this film canister rocket literally takes it to the next level by using that creation of gas and energy to jet off into the sky. If your explorer has seen videos of mountain tops getting blown off during a volcanic eruption, this science project is pretty much any space lover’s version. Get the building instructions over at kids science activity blog The Science Kiddo.

If your kids are curious about how animals like polar bears and seals stay warm in polar climates, you can go beyond just explaining it to them; you can actually have them make some of their own blubber and test it out. After you’ve filled up a large bowl with ice water and let it sit for a few minutes to get really cold, have your kids dip a bare hand in and see how many seconds they can last before their hand gets too cold. Next, coat one of their fingers in shortening and repeat the experiment. Your child will notice that, with the shortening acting like a protective layer of blubber, they don’t feel the cold water nearly as much.

Ever got an electric shock off something? Demonstrate the science behind the shocks with this jumping frogs experiment. With just a balloon, some sugar paper and a woolly jumper, you’ll have frogs leaping in no time demonstrating the power of static electricity. It doesn’t have to be frogs either, let your imagination run wild to create some other jumping stars of this easy science experiment!

The Big Bag of Science is filled with all sorts of scientific ingredients and tools for your child to conduct his or her experiments. The bag also helps to teach observational techniques and skills like understanding measurements, experimentation, and analyzation. Note that there are some ingredients not included that can be found in the house (like soda).

Have fun exploring science around your house and backyard. Take pictures of your experiment steps and make a science experiment notebook to record your findings. It’s safest to work with a parent or other adult when performing science experiments, though. Always get permission before you work like a scientist, and ask an adult to help you with the experiment steps. Education and science go hand-in-hand and one without the other is a sad time for any child indeed. There are loads of ways to get your children into science and the sooner the better. One way is to have fun with scientific experiments that use hands-on learning techniques. The hands-on approach is ideally what young scientists want to do and the less theory the better, especially when they are so young. Have you noticed that science seems to be a hot topic recently? Wondering how you can help at home? As busy moms of three kids and former elementary school teachers we’ve shared over 30 science experiments for you at The Educators’ Spin On It. Our biggest tip is to simply allow time for it. Encourage your child to use those “wh” questions to explore their world through a scientific view…What, Why, How, Where, When. Take a peek below at our science activities and let us know which one you want to do first!
Kids ages 5-8 are at a crucial time in their understanding of science, math, and engineering. They're old enough to grasp how big ideas like the solar system and flight, things that perhaps once seemed magical, have scientific properties that allow us to explore outer space and build rocket ships. Kiwi Crate allows children in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade to begin a hands-on discovery of physics, chemistry, biology, and more, with fun projects that they can assemble themselves.

Scientific Explorer's Mind Blowing Science Kit includes almost everything you need to set up exciting, colorful experiments with your young scientist. Included in this dynamic kit are the following components: red cabbage juice powder, citric acid, color tablets, polyacrylamide crystals, a pipette, small and medium scoops, and three plastic cups. Only basic supplies are required but not included, such as water, towels, a plate or tray to catch spills, and a stirring spoon. Although none of the experiments included in this kit are especially messy, each one should be done on a flat surface that can be easily wiped clean in case of spills.

With just some basic materials you can create your own musical instrument to teach kids about sound waves. In this water xylophone experiment, you’ll fill glass jars with varying levels of water. Once they’re all lined up, kids can hit the sides with wooden sticks and see how the itch differs depending on how much water is in the jar (more water=lower pitch, less water=higher pitch). This is because sound waves travel differently depending on how full the jars are with water.

These sound like big words for our little ones, but there’s an easier way to break it down. Water and oil won’t mix because they’re not the same “weight” or substance (just like clay and LEGOs won’t become one). Now add a drop of food coloring (which is heavier than oil) and a fizzy tablet and watch the air bubbles take coloring with them to the top. Head on over to S. L. Smith’s blog to see how it’s done.

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. All prices on this site may change and those considered valid are displayed on Amazon.com You’ve probably tried a salt crystal growing kit at some point in your life (5th grade Science Fair perhaps?) but Schooling a Monkey takes the idea to a new level with these Salt Crystal Feathers. This awe-inspiring project is deceptively simple and inexpensive to achieve, and requires just a wee bit of patience to see the results—kids will love checking in on the progress. Visit Schooling a Monkey now to get started.
The "volcano" was basically a miniature mound that fizzled. Could get a bigger reaction from dropping an Alka Seltzer in water or mixing baking soda with a little vinegar. The "giant crystals" only grew a couple of centimeters. All the experiments are on such a miniature scale it doesn't have any of the wow factor we were looking for. I will go back to googling fun experiments to do with my son.

Younger children are most likely to be interested in something which is very hands-on, and gives results quickly. They probably won’t be interested in growing a crystal, and are probably a bit young for something like a robot building kit. Young kids will be most likely to enjoy a gross science kit, or a volcano kit. Also think about safety features when buying for younger children. Make sure they won’t eat anything they shouldn’t, or there are no small parts which could be dangerous.

Dry ice is already cool enough on its own (yes, pun intended) but it takes science to turn them a rad overflow of bubbles. When you add water, it changes the temperature of the dry ice, causing the ice to go from solid to gas. That’s where the fog and bubbles come from! Head to crafty blog Simply Modern Mom to get the full tutorial. But be careful: Dry ice can cause serious skin burns, so make sure your kids are well supervised and know not to touch the ice.

There are many different types of children’s scientific equipment and learning activities and here we will review some of the best and feature the highlights and reasons to choose one over the other. Some like to use home-made diy type science activities and others prefer the box sets that come all prepared. Both are fantastic and we applaud the parent willing to spend the time going through kitchen worktops and cupboards to make learning enjoyable for their kids.

I believe all children have the potential to be the next latest and greatest scientific inventor, but they just need to get things started. Holistic learning and hands-on approaches to teaching complex ideas make the difficult a lot less so. Absorbing information and fine-tuning their ability to sit and focus on one project will help set the foundation for them to become able to learn in a coherent and disciplined way, while also being fun. There are many different types of children’s scientific equipment and learning activities and here we will review some of the best and feature the highlights and reasons to choose one over the other. Some like to use home-made diy type science activities and others prefer the box sets that come all prepared. Both are fantastic and we applaud the parent willing to spend the time going through kitchen worktops and cupboards to make learning enjoyable for their kids. How are some dinosaur tracks still visible millions of years later? By mixing together several ingredients, you’ll get a claylike mixture you can press your hands/feet or dinosaur models into to make dinosaur track imprints. The mixture will harden and the imprints will remain, showing kids how dinosaur (and early human) tracks can stay in rock for such a long period of time. By creating an articulated hand model, you can teach kids about bones, joints, and how our hands are able to move in many ways and accomplish so many different tasks. After creating a hand out of thin foam, kids will cut straws to represent the different bones in the hand and glue them to the fingers of the hand models. You’ll then thread yarn (which represents tendons) through the straws, stabilize the model with a chopstick or other small stick, and end up with a hand model that moves and bends the way actual human hands do. Kids will love shooting pom poms out of these homemade popsicle stick catapults. After assembling the catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons, they’re ready to launch pom poms or other lightweight objects. To teach kids about simple machines, you can ask them about how they think the catapults work, what they should do to make the pom poms go a farther/shorter distance, and how the catapult could be made more powerful.

A step up from silly putty and Play-Doh, magnetic slime is fun to play with but also teaches kids about magnets and how they attract and repel each other. Some of the ingredients you aren’t likely to have around the house, but they can all be purchased online. After mixing the ingredients together, you can use the neodymium magnet (regular magnets won’t be strong enough) to make the magnetic slime move without touching it!

While The Big Bag of Science included some fun chemistry experiments, My First Mind Blowing Science Kit focuses solely on chemistry and chemical reactions. Want to witness a sunset in a test tube? What about a color-changing (or even underwater) volcano? This kit includes ingredients your child will need to conduct these colorful experiments over and over again—or at least until the powders, polymers, and oils run out.

These sound like big words for our little ones, but there’s an easier way to break it down. Water and oil won’t mix because they’re not the same “weight” or substance (just like clay and LEGOs won’t become one). Now add a drop of food coloring (which is heavier than oil) and a fizzy tablet and watch the air bubbles take coloring with them to the top. Head on over to S. L. Smith’s blog to see how it’s done. Invisible inks either react with another chemical to become visible or else weaken the structure of the paper so the message appears if you hold it over a heat source. But we're not talking about fire here. The heat of a normal light bulb is all that's required to darken the lettering. This baking soda recipe is nice because if you don't want to use a light bulb to reveal the message, you can just swab the paper with grape juice instead. 3. Now remove about an inch of the plastic coating from both ends of the wire and attach the one wire to one end of a battery and the other wire to the other end of the battery. (It is best to tape the wires to the battery – be careful though, the wire could get very hot!) Now you can experiment by picking up paper clips and small non-aluminum objects. Have you ever gone into a cave and seen huge stalactites hanging from the top of the cave? Stalactites are formed by dripping water. The water is filled with particles which slowly accumulate and harden over the years, forming stalactites. You can recreate that process with this stalactite experiment. By mixing a baking soda solution, dipping a piece of wool yarn in the jar and running it to another jar, you’ll be able to observe baking soda particles forming and hardening along the yarn, similar to how stalactites grow.

This science kit is perfect for my son. I got it for his 6th birthday and we've been having so much fun doing the experiments. It came with nearly all of the supplies except for simple things you have in your home like baking flour and water. Other kits I've bought have required so many other items which we didn't have, this one is so easy to use. He loves using the test tubes, the dropper, measuring out the components with the scoopers. He said it makes him feel like a real scientist. His 4 year old sister likes doing experiments too. This is the best kit to buy for a young child. So easy for them AND for you.

This mechanical weathering experiment teaches kids why and how rocks break down or erode. Take two pieces of clay, form them into balls, and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then, leave one out while placing the other in the freezer overnight. The next day, unwrap and compare them. You can repeat freezing the one piece of clay every night for several days to see how much more cracked and weathered it gets than the piece of clay that wasn’t frozen. It may even begin to crumble. This weathering also happens to rocks when they are subjected to extreme temperatures, and it’s one of the causes of erosion.